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Ralph Nader: Billionaires to party in 2016

For third party-inclined billionaires, 2016 is already looking like a promising political year, said Ralph Nader on Monday.

“Here’s what I think is going to happen,” said Nader, who has served as third-party candidate himself, speaking on C-SPAN. “We will have the usual Green Party and libertarian parties in 2016. But there are some mega-billionaires who are seriously considering running third party. And the minute a mega-billionaire announces, like Ross Perot, they get enormous press, they get the polls and they are in play.”

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Nader: Obama worse than Bush

Nader, who in 2011 told POLTICO that he wanted to see New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg run as a third-party candidate, again referenced the New York leader and said it is “highly probable” that people with similar capital will make a presidential play next cycle.

“Mayor Bloomberg almost did it in 2012, and I think it is almost highly probable that, because there are so many mega billionaires now, a lot of whom are in their forties and fifties, they’ll say, ‘Look, we’ve had enough, we are going to go for a three- or four-party race,’” Nader said. “And all they gotta do is write a check for themselves. So when someone like Mr. Bloomberg’s worth $27 billion, to write a $500 million check and not have to dial for dollars….tends to be attractive to a lot of voters.”

Currently, however, there is a credibility gap for third party candidates, Nader said.

“So people are ready,” he continued. “But you have to convince them that the candidate has a chance to win. They’re not convinced the little third parties have that chance because of all the obstruction.”